The fact that Apple products are highly sought after and typically more expensive than similar electronics make them the perfect tool for scam artists. An Apple gadget offered at a significant discount is enough to make anyone oblivious to scandal.

That certainly seems to be the basis of an epidemic that has Grand Prairie police officers scratching their heads. The North-Texas city has seen over a dozen instances of a recurring scam involving fake Apple products…

“A car load of two or three males will pull up to someone at a convenience store or shopping center parking lot and it’s “Psst, hey buddy. Want to buy an Apple iPad or MacBook? They will tell the victim they are for sale for $300 each or both for $500. The Apple products are actually painted wood or loose leaf note books with the Apple logo on top and wrapped in bubble wrap. They are in a Fed Ex or Best Buy box and sealed up with tape. By the time the victim figures out the purchase wasn’t what they bargained for, the crooks are long gone.

Grand Prairie has had over a dozen such crimes committed since January of this year. The suspects have been mostly black males. However one offense involved a black female as well. The vehicles used vary in most cases. There appears to be several groups of thieves and sometimes the suspects never even get out of the car.

The public should be advised that it is unwise to purchase anything from the trunk of a car, no matter how good the deal seems.”

The scandal reminds me of the old “white van” grift, which involves a similar tactic of selling “high-end” speakers at a ridiculous discount. The scam has been around for years, and has been documented in countless cities around the globe.

As MacRumors has done, we will mention that the Chrysler 300 in the above photo was allegedly used in one of the crimes. And if you happen to live in the area and have information about the suspects, you can call Crime Stoppers at 972-237-8877.

While most of us believe our common sense would stop us long before we bought something from a person in a parking lot, the scam is obviously working. What would you do if someone offered you a new iPad or MacBook for $300 bucks?

How stupid you have to be to buy something without making sure that it works and it is the real thing! I have purchased my iPad, iPad 2, Iphone etc from Craigslist and before I pay I check the serials #! cmon ppl you get scam cuz you are dum!

When I bought my iPad2 I didn’t get to test it or open it first, but I bought it from FRY’s Electronics – so, the exception was warranted. But, truth be told, I did open the box immediately in the parking lot and turned it on before I left FRY’s.

– Eric

OneBigAssMistakeAmerica

Let me guess…They are WHITE right? (Sarcasm)

ic0edx

NO they’re always black…

Coach

That’s funny because I got scammed like this by white guys also. Don’t be an idiot.

Of course they’re black. Stop denying the truth. It’s a black person 80% of the time, a Mexican 15% of the time and the rest is divided up between other races.

MAGNUS

This happened to my buddy from work. He thought he was buying two 17″ MacBook Pros. What he ended up buying were two binders with apt locator books inside. Everything was “packaged” and sealed in bubble wrap as described above. They had a print out price tag from Best Buy inside the bubble wrap and that’s what duped him.

MAGNUS

Btw – We’re in Dallas. Grand Prairie is a suburb of Dallas / Ft Woth.

Hoges64

You gotta be kidding me right!?!?!?!?

Why would anyone buy something like this off the street without opening the boxes and turning the damn things on before handing over cash?

If they don’t let you open the box and turn them on then don’t be stupid enough to buy them.

The old saying still applies, probably even more so today than ever: If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.

Idiots.

Bob

I thought it was stupid to not even test the device let alone not open the box/packaging. These idiots deserve to be ripped off.

Dustin

I really never trust Electronics that aren’t from actual Retail stores. Anything Electronic from
Outside, I will always ask for the Serial Number and also ALLOW me to test the device before I make a actual decision to purchase It.

Eldaria

The people who buy this are the same people who will eventually end up in Darwin Awards.

Shame on the idiot that would fall for such a ploy. Come on morons – this is what makes America so damn stupid!

Acolz

+1

Vincent

Really?? Especially with Apple products, anything but full retail price (unless a refurb) is almost guaranteed a fail. Don’t purchase electronics except from reputable stores – even Craigslist with extra precautions is just asking for trouble.

Mindy

I think these people must be thinking that they are stolen goods and the guys are trying to unload quickly before getting caught. I heard of a story where a guy stopped another on the street and told him outright if he wanted to buy this iphone he just stole for (some crazy amount under $100) and the guy said he had to get rid of it RIGHT THEN so wasn’t going to stand around for the guy to try out and it seemed like such a deal so he went for it. Yeah, wasn’t even a working phone, let alone an iPhone. If you are willing to buy stolen merchandise (and lets face it, it may be tempting with coveted items such as iphones, ipads, etc, then you better be willing to get ripped off as well.

I suppose if anyone thought about it longer, they would realize that even stolen merchandise, a thief wouldn’t let go for that price when they can get full price on ebay all day long doing it over the web so why risk selling out of a van for fractions of the price? People want to believe they are getting lucky though so ignore their better judgement sometimes.

Check it out. I live in grand prairie TX. And have a repair shop in desoto TX. Which is about 15 minutes from grand prairie. Two blacks guys pull up to my shop. One gets out and offers to sell me an iPad two 64gig att for 250. And says he has a trunk full of em. The other black guy just stands out by the from door. He shows me his trunk that has about 30 iPad 2. In apple retail box still wrapped. The iPad he showed me was def real. But I don’t know about the ones in the boxes. Needless to say I told him I didn’t want to buy any.